Making a difference

Charlie Adams hopes he can help students make better choices.

Charlie Adams hopes he can help students make better choices.

January 24, 2006|IDA CHIPMAN Tribune Correspondent

PLYMOUTH Charlie Adams has met the rich and famous. As a sportscaster at WSBT-TV, he's met some real superstars, including Tiger Woods and Ryan Newman. But no one he's met is more important than your son or daughter, your neighbor or the kid down the street. That's why he's on a new mission. "I want to make a profound impact on people's lives," he said. Charlie has decided to cut back on his sportscasting career and devote more energy to his motivational speaking. This isn't something completely new to Charlie. In the last 20 years, he has delivered more than 1,500 presentations to listeners of all ages, in schools and churches, at banquets and conferences. "When we say 'listeners,' we mean most," he said. "There was one kid in a South Bend high school group who was sawing wood the minute he sat down. "There was no motivational speaker in the world that could have interrupted his nap." Can he get through to teenagers? Recently, he spent 2 1/2 hours with a select group of 21 students at Plymouth High School. Emilio Ortiz, a 17-year-old PHS junior, said Charlie made him realize he needs "to be more resilient in life and not to take things so hard." "It was very worthwhile to me," he added. "I am glad I was here." Janelle Flores, also 17, said she is the kind of person who says she will do something but doesn't follow through. "Today I made a mental commitment to graduate from high school, not only for myself but for my 2-year-old daughter." Charlie has a variety of programs for students -- high achievers as well as middle of the pack and underachievers. Sponsored by Plymouth's Centier Bank, Charlie is scheduling future presentations to area schools. He usually shows 10 to 12 brief, humorous and educational videos, followed by discussions. One task is for attendees to write down their dreams, passions and goals. "I want to help people reach heights they never realized they could," he said. He understands what it's like to be adrift. Growing up in Oxford, Miss., Charlie made average grades, wasn't involved in much of anything and was terribly shy. "I had no self-confidence," he said. In his junior year, the basketball coach talked him into coming out for the team. It made all the difference in his life. "I started getting interested in stuff and making friends and ended up as class president of Oxford High School, Class of 1980." At the University of Mississippi, Charlie earned a degree in education. "I learned to be a teacher," he said, "but I found out that the thing that made my heart skip a beat was television sportscasting." His first job was in Bakersfield, Calif., where he won two Golden Microphones for his work. In 1988, Charlie came to South Bend, where he has been a TV news and sports anchor for 16 of the 23 years he's been in the business. "And now," he said, "my goals have changed. What I will be doing is truly an act of faith." Charlie, 43, will remain at WSBT-Channel 22 on a limited basis, giving him more time to accept speaking engagements in the Michiana area. "My sports background -- interviews with many famous athletes from Ryan Newman, Tiger Woods, all of the last two decades of Notre Dame players to personalities and leaders like Jack Edison and Bill Cosby -- enables kids to relate to me," he said. He takes stories from many of the people he has covered over the years and turns them into tools teenagers can use to break through the barriers and achieve success in their own lives. He spoke about a South Bend student on the verge of suicide who told Charlie that hearing his talk had saved his life and that he had given up the idea of killing himself. "If I can reach only one kid, it's worth it," he said. "And that one is especially meaningful."